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In the wake of the Aug. 24 issuance of the on “blacklisting,” ţӰis quickly deploying resources to help members comply with new requirements while pursuing legislative efforts and, potentially, litigation to protect contractors and taxpayers from the policy. Officially known as the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces final rule, the measure will require federal contractors and subcontractors to disclose any “violations” of 14 federal labor laws and OSHA-approved state plans to the federal government before being awarded federal contracts covered by this rule. The rule was issued by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council accompanied by a from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and a White House to . ţӰissued a slamming the final blacklisting rule immediately afterward. The final rule is effective on Oct. 25, 2016, and will be implemented in that will impact prime contractors and subcontractors pursuing federal contractors of $500,000 or more when it is fully put into action. Prime contractors pursuing federal contracts over $50 million issued after Oct. 25, 2016, will be the first group that must comply with this rule. In addition, on Jan. 1, 2017, the rule’s paycheck transparency provisions take effect, requiring contractors to provide wage statements and notice of any independent contractor relationship to their covered workers. ABC’s general counsel, Littler Mendelson P.C., has prepared an of the blacklisting final rule. In addition, ţӰwill offer a free webinar for ţӰmembers on Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. ET, titled, The final rule is expected to increase costs for taxpayers, threaten the livelihood of employees who work for responsible federal contractors and cripple the federal procurement process with needless uncertainty, delays and litigation. It places a new and costly regulatory burden on the federal contracting community and creates a process that will allow trial lawyers to extort larger settlements from firms, enable bureaucratic agencies to extract costly compliance agreements for conduct that may have been legal, and give labor unions leverage to persuade businesses to capitulate to their demands. “ţӰsupports a level and transparent playing field for federal contractors and believes unethical firms should be held accountable,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC’s vice president of Legal, Regulatory and State Affairs. “However, there are many troubling aspects of this rule. For example, the final rule strips federal contractors of their due process rights by forcing them to disclose pre-adjudicated ‘labor law decisions’ and alleged violations of the covered laws to government officials that can be used as the basis for contracting officers to deny a contract to an otherwise qualified firm.” “For this, and many other practical reasons raised in our comments to government officials during the past two years, ţӰwill continue to explore every available avenue, including the judicial system, to protect taxpayers, contractors and their employees, whose livelihoods rely on a fair procurement system, from this overreaching policy,” said Brubeck. ţӰhas the since the on July 31, 2014. Specifically, ţӰhas: